The Most Brutal Sabretooth Vs. Wolverine Battles, Ranked

The rivalry between Wolverine and Sabretooth is one that stretches back decades within Marvel Comics lore, and every encounter these two savage mutants have is seemingly more gruesome than the last. Originally, Logan and Victor were teammates on Team X under the Weapon Plus Program. However, their paths quickly diverged once Wolverine escaped, as he was there as a brainwashed prisoner, while Sabretooth was there because he loved to kill.

Over time, the two joined a number of teams that aligned with their ideals, until their paths finally crossed yet again shortly after Wolverine became a member of the X-Men during one of the most blood-soaked events in the team’s history. From there, Wolverine and Sabretooth would sporadically run into each other, and every time, the fight that would ensue was always on sight. Here are 10 of the most brutal Sabretooth vs Wolverine battles in Marvel Comics history, ranked.

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10 One of Wolverine’s Earliest Fights with Sabretooth was Their Most Tame

X-Men #6 by Jim Lee and Scott Lobdell

This issue shows Wolverine having an induced flashback to his time on Team X during his first mission involving Omega Red. On the mission, Sabretooth needlessly kills someone, and Wolverine couldn’t abide by the unnecessary bloodshed. When the team went back to base to debrief, Logan attacked Creed before their little skirmish was broken up by the surrounding agents.

Wolverine and Sabretooth’s fight in this issue amounted to little more than a shoving match. However, it was one of their earliest fights, meaning it laid the groundwork for future conflicts that were decidedly much more brutal.

9 Wolverine & Sabretooth’s First On-Panel Fight was Historic, But Not That Brutal

Uncanny X-Men #212 by Chris Claremont and Rick Leonardi

The Mutant Massacre was one of the most intense moments in X-Men canon, as it saw the slaughter of basically the entire Morlock community by the hands of a few mutants working directly for the insidious Mr. Sinister – and one of them was Sabretooth. When the X-Men went to investigate, Sabretooth launched an attack against them, and Wolverine took it upon himself to face-off against his old ally-turned-advisory.

The fight may have been historic, as it was the first time these two ever fought on-panel, but it definitely wasn’t as brutal as some of their subsequent scraps.

8 Sabretooth’s First Chronological Fight Against Wolverine Dramatically Upped the Brutality

Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth #1 by Frank Tieri, Angel Unzueta, and Guillermo Sanna

Ruins of Ravencroft: Sabretooth takes readers back to when Victor Creed and James Howlett first met each other in 1909. Logan had been taken prisoner by Nathaniel Essex (aka Mr. Sinister), whom Sabretooth was working for at the time – which is an interesting precursor to their affiliation during the Mutant Massacre. Creed had his own vendetta against Logan at the time, and Essex needed mutants to experiment on, so their interests aligned in this case. At least, until Logan escaped.

The battle here was fairly brief, but immensely brutal, as it showed Wolverine popping his claws directly under Sabretooth’s chin, right into his brain, before Logan made his escape.

7 The Death of Silver Fox is Wolverine & Sabretooth’s Most Emotionally Impactful Fight

Wolverine #10 by Chris Claremont and John Buscema

After leaving Team X, Wolverine tried to have a normal life with the woman he loved, Silver Fox, only for Sabretooth to track them down, kill Silver Fox, and gravely injure Wolverine to the point of near death. This fight was easily their most emotionally impactful, as it showed Sabretooth murdering someone Wolverine loved just to get back at him for ‘abandoning who he really is’. Even to this day, Sabretooth maintains that Logan is just as vicious as he is, and that’s why he has to keep reminding Wolverine of that through the most horrific violence.

Sabretooth killing Silver Fox is something that he’d use to antagonize Wolverine for years to come, and it’s one of the many reasons why Logan will never let bygones be bygones with Victor (even though Silver Fox technically wasn’t killed, though that wasn’t revealed until much later).

6 Wolverine & Sabretooth Battle for the Right to Become Apocalypse’s Horseman of Death

Wolverine #145 by Erik Larsen and Leinil Francis Yu

After Wolverine had the adamantium ripped out of him by Magneto, it wasn’t long before his path crossed with Apocalypse, who offered to give Wolverine his adamantium back if he agreed to be his Horseman of Death. However, the exchange wasn’t that simple, as Wolverine first had to ensure someone else wasn’t recruited for that particular role – someone who’d be far too dangerous with an Apocalypse-level upgrade: Sabretooth.

Here, Sabretooth actually had his own adamantium skeleton/claws while Wolverine was fighting with just his bone claws, yet even still, Wolverine managed to come out on top. Wolverine sliced Sabretooth’s unprotected organs, carving him up piece by piece until finally his opponent was beaten in the most brutal way imaginable.

5 Ultimate X-Men’s Wolverine vs Sabretooth was Next-Level Gruesome & Vicious

Ultimate X-Men #12 by Mark Miller, Adam Kubert, and Tom Derenick

The Ultimate Universe naturally upped the ante in every regard for a more modern readership, including violence – and there’s nothing more violent in Marvel Comics than a fight between Wolverine and Sabretooth. When Weapon X kidnapped the X-Men, Wolverine slipped through the organization’s fingers, only to return to the facility to free his captured teammates. That’s when he ran into Sabretooth, who was still a Weapon X operative at the time, and who got his own adamantium upgrade.

Sabretooth didn’t just have an adamantium skeleton like he did when he fought Wolverine for a spot as Apocalypse’s Horseman, he also got claws that were practically the same as Wolverine’s, and his teeth were also coated in unbreakable metal. This upgrade made their fight more gruesome and vicious than ever, something made even more pronounced by the very hyper-violent nature of the Ultimate Universe itself.

4 Wolverine Dismembered Sabretooth’s Soul in Hell

Wolverine #5 by Jason Aaron and Renato Guedes

When Wolverine gets possessed by a demon, his soul is sent to hell in its place. It’s there where Wolverine literally dethrones the devil, creating a power vacuum in hell that Sabretooth hoped to fill. Sabretooth obtained the Soulcutter Sword, but when Wolverine saw him with it, he knew he couldn’t let Sabretooth use it for his own gain. So, the two engage in brutal combat, which ends with Logan winning the sword from Creed, and then proceeding to slice him into little pieces that – according to Wolverine – won’t heal “ever”.

Not only was this battle brutal due to the fact that it literally took place in hell, but it also depicted one of the most gruesome defeats in Sabretooth’s personal Marvel Comics history, as he was reduced to a pile of body parts.

3 Sabretooth Rips Wolverine Apart with His Multiversal Sabreteeth Army

Wolverine #42 by Benjamin Percy, Victor LaValle, and Cory Smith

This issue marks Part 2 of the Sabretooth War, where Sabretooth and his army of multiversal variants collectively known as Sabreteeth have stormed the last mutant stronghold following the Hellfire Gala Massacre. The issue opens with Wolverine being attacked by Sabretooth’s entire army, all while the Victor Creed of Earth-616 sits back and watches his ‘old friend’ get torn to shreds.

The real gruesome part of this fight, however, was what happened to Wolverine after he was captured and strung up with adamantium bands. To free himself, Wolverine shredded his hands and feet, leaving nothing behind but bloody stumps. This entire conflict was perhaps the bloodiest their fights have ever been – and, at this point in the Sabretooth War, it is just getting started.

2 Wolverine & Sabretooth’s Rivalry Temporarily Ended on a Melancholic Tone

Wolverine #55 by Jeph Loeb and Simone Bianchi

Every other battle between Wolverine and Sabretooth, no matter the level of depicted violence, always had an air of fun action about it. This one, however, was totally void of that, and was a solemn, melancholic end to a decades-long rivalry. After Logan got his hands on a sword that neutralized healing factors as it sliced, Wolverine tracked down Sabretooth – who was ripping apart an innocent victim in the woods at the time – and sliced off his arm.

Like an empty-minded beast, Sabretooth tried to reattach it, but after Wolverine explained that wouldn’t work, Sabretooth accepted his fate. Tears in his eyes, Victor asked Logan to kill him, and Wolverine complied with a swift decapitation. The brutality here wasn’t due to the action behind the violence, but the sadness, the death.

1 Wolverine & Sabretooth’s Most Brutal Fight Puts Violence Front and Center

Wolverine: Black, White, and Blood #2 – “Unfinished Business” by Vita Ayala and Greg Land

While the violence in Wolverine #55 carried only sadness behind it, the violence in this issue only held more violence. Never before has a story highlighted the grisly brutality in one of Wolverine and Sabretooth’s fights. The black and white style of the artwork, highlighted by the stark red of the blood forces readers to see just how gruesome this battle truly is.

This story puts the focus directly on the violence itself; no undertones, no emotional impact, no lasting consequences. Pure, unadulterated brutality is what readers get with this fight, which is why it is the most brutal Sabretooth vs Wolverine battle in Marvel Comics history.